Yourdetailed letter has greatly gladdened us all. Please send us the
promised supplement as soon as possible, and write oftener. We hope soon
to send one of the comrades to you for more detailed and final talks;
meanwhile we shall confine ourselves to the most important points.

Youare right a thousand times over when you say that we must unite as
soon as possible, indeed immediately, in a single all-Russian
organisation, whose aim would be to prepare the ground for ideological
unity among the committees and for the practical, organisational unity of
the Party. We, for our part, have already taken a number of fairly
important steps in this direction, thanks to the fact that the
St. Petersburg Committee has come over fully to the Iskra point
of view, published a statement to this effect, and de facto
(this, of course, is strictly entre
nous[Between us.—Ed.])
merged with the Iskra organisation in Russia, and given its
members very influential places in the committee’s central group. If we
succeed in getting the same complete solidarity and complete fusion with
the South, the actual unification of the Party will be three-quarters on
the way to accomplishment. This must be pushed ahead as fast as
possible. We are taking steps immediately, first, to see to it that
members of the Iskra organisation in Russia visit you for the
purpose of coming to an agreement; second, to establish connections here
with Chernyshov. For your part, hurry up the release (or publication in
Iskra) of your statement of
principles, fully defining your position in the Party, and take all steps
towards actual fusion with the Iskra organisation in Russia.

Inconclusion, a few words on the questions you have raised. Regarding the
peasantry and the agrarian programme, we are not clear on precisely what
you find unsatisfactory in our draft agrarian programme and what changes
you would like. Let us know this more concretely. Have you seen No. 4 of
Zarya with the article on the agrarian
programme? [See pp. 107-50 of this
volume.—Ed.]
In general, your remarks about the mistakes made by Iskra show
how important it is for us to communicate more frequently and regularly so
as to achieve complete harmony. We have so devilishly few forces that only
the closest unity of all Social-Democrats can ensure us success
in the struggle against both the “adventurers” and the
government. And yet we hitherto knew almost nothing about your standpoint,
for instance, or about your practical work—is that normal? Besides,
is it normal that you, for instance, are now taking steps on your own to
establish permanent transport connections, while we are doing it likewise
on our own? (Let us know in greater detail what steps you are taking, how
and where, what are the means you have, etc.) This same circumstance,
i.e., the shortage of forces, should be taken into account in considering
the question of a special press organ, of continuing the publication of
Yuzhny Rabochy, of changing it to Russky Rabochy. We
must weigh all aspects of the matter with the utmost care. Just consider
where we are to get the forces for two papers, when we know very well that
we have not enough even for one. Won’t you be giving St. Petersburg (the
non-Iskra-ist elements in St. Petersburg) a stimulus to publish
Rabochaya Mysl also as an “explanatory,” popular, etc.,
paper? And this at a time when St. Petersburg is preparing to discontinue
Rabochaya Mysl and at last get down to real work on
Iskra. Won’t your efforts to arrange regular contributions to
Iskra from Russia suffer as a result of your plans—and you
know that without this collaboration Iskra cannot become a
genuine Party organ; don’t forget either that, except for you, we have
practically no one in view for this work. And if the Iskra-ists
don’t take this in hand, who will do so, and when? Finally, thrash out
more thoroughly the question of whether the purposes of explanatory,
propagandist, popular literature meant for the “average
worker” (as you put it) are compatible with the purposes of a
newspaper. That there must be literature specially designed for the
average worker and the masses is indisputable; but this can be only in the
form of leaflets and pamphlets, since it is impossible for a
newspaper properly to explain every question to the aver age
worker. For this we must begin from the beginning, with the ABC,
and go straight through to the end, carefully and thorougly examining all
aspects of a question. A newspaper would scarcely be in a position to do
this even if it were as sured of ideal conditions with regard to literary
forces. Don’t forget, lastly, that what you do, whether you desire it or
not, will be of all-Russian importance, and that all talk, notions, and
theories about special papers “for the
intelligentsia” and “for the workers” may play a most
pernicious part, not only irrespectively of your desires, but even despite
anything you may do to counteract it personally. After all, there is only
a handful like you among the Russian Social-Democrats, while among the
mass of the Russian Social-Democrats there is still a very great deal of
narrow-mindedness of all kinds. We do not, of course, intend to limit
ourselves to these cursory remarks on a question of such importance, but
we only ask you not to unduly hasten your decision, and to discuss the
matter from all angles. We consider it even desirable to preserve
a separate group (the Editorial Board of Yuzhny Rabochy) at least
until the Party congress, but this group should not be in a hurry with its
paper.

Notes

[1]Yuzhny Rabochy (Southern Worker)—a Social-Democratic news
paper, published illegally from January 1900 to April 1903 by a group of
this name. Twelve numbers were issued. I. K. Lala yants, A. Vilensky
(“Ilya”), 0. A. Kogan (Yermansky), B. S. Tseitlin (Batursky),
E. Y. and E. S. Levin, V. N. Rozanov, and others were at various times
editors and contributors.

YuzhnyRabochy started as the “Ekaterinoslav Workers’ News
paper” (the subtitle of the first two issues), and soon became an
influential “organ of the working-class movement in South Russia.”
The location of the newspaper’s print-shop was continually changed, being
at different times in Ekaterinoslav, Sine lensk, Kishinev, Nikolayev, and
elsewhere....

YuzhnyRabochy opposed “economism” and terrorism and
upheld the need to develop a mass revolutionary movement. But, in
opposition to the Iskra plan of creating in Russia a centralised
Marxist party round an all-Russian political newspaper, the Yuzhny
Rabochy group put forward a plan for restoring the R.S.D.L.P. by
creating regional Social-Democratic associations. A practical attempt to
realise this plan was made through convocation of the conference of
committees and organisations of the R.S.D.L.P. in South Russia in December
1901, at which the League of Southern Committees and Organisations of the
R.S.D.L.P. was formed, with Yuzhny Rabochy as its organ. The
attempt proved impracticable (as was the entire organisational plan of
Yuzhny Rabochy) and after the mass police raids in the spring of
1902, the League disintegrated. In August 1902, those members of
Yuzhny Rabochy’s Editorial Board who were at large entered into
negotiations with the Iskra Editorial Board on joint work to
restore the unity of Russian Social-Democracy. The declaration of the
Yuzhny Rabochy group on solidarity with Iskra (published
in Iskra, No. 27, November 1, 1902, and in Yuzhny
Rabochy, No. 10, December 1902) was of great importance in
consolidating the Social-Democratic forces in Russia. In November 1902,
the Yuzhny Rabochy group, together with the Russian
Iskra organisation, the St. Petersburg Committee of the
R.S.D.L.P. and the Northern League of the R.S.D.L.P. participated in
restoring the Organising Committee and in its activities in convening the
Second Party Congress.

TheYuzhny Rabochy group conducted extensive revolutionary work
in Russia, but at the same time it displayed opportunist tendencies in
deciding the question of the attitude to the liberal bourgeoisie and to
the peasant movement, and hatched a separatist plan to set up an
all-Russian newspaper parallel to Iskra.

Atthe Second Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., the Yuzhny Rabochy
delegates adopted a “Centre” position (Lenin called the
representatives of the Centre “opportunist middlemen”). The Second
Congress decided to dissolve the Yuzhny Rabochy group as well as
all separate Social-Democratic groups and organisations.